
Letters of Carl Schurz, B. Gratz Brown, James S. Rollins, 

G. G. Vest et al., Missourians, from the Private 

Papers and Correspondence of Senator 

James Rood Doolittle of 

Wisconsin.^ 

Contributed by Duane Mowry, of Milwaukee, Wis. 

The copies of documents herewith submitted for publication in 
The Missouri Historical Review besides having local interest and sig- 
nificance, are really of historical value. They deal, in several in- 
stances, at least, with important problems, political, financial, and 
economic. Several of the Carl Schurz letters and those of Judge 
Doolittle and Senator Vest certainly come under these headings. 
So also does that of the Hon. B. Gratz Brown. 

It is true that the Schurz letters were written before their author 
became a citizen of St. Louis. But they are letters of political and 
historical interest, and in the opinion of the contributor, it is eminently 
fitting that they find a place in the historical collections of Mr. Schurz' s 
adopted state. 

No attempt has been made to connect the letters with certain events 
to which they undoubtedly specifically refer. That would be an inter- 
esting historical exercise. Students of the subject and the time can 
easily verify much that is indicated in the letters, or in some of them at 
all events. 

— Duane Mowry. 

'James Rood Doolittle was born in Hampton, Washington county, N. Y., 
Jan. 3, 1815, and died at Providence, R. I., July, 27, 1897. During the last 
half of the nineteenth century, Mr. Doolittle was a pubhc and national character 
of no ordinary ability or worth. Excepting four years at Geneva (now Hobart) 
College, where he graduated in 1834, and a few years, when he studied and 
practiced law at Rochester, he resided in Wyoming county, N. Y., until in 
1851, he removed to Racine, Wis. 

(1) 



586 
)69 
apy 1 




Letters of Carl Schurz, B. Gratz Brown, James S. Rollins, 

G. G. Vest et al., Missourians, from the Private 

Papers and Correspondence of Senator 

James Rood Doolittle of 

Wisconsin.^ 

Contributed by Duane Mowry, of Milwaukee, Wis. 

The copies of documents herewith submitted for publication in 
The Missouri Historical Review besides having local interest and sig- 
nificance, are really of historical value. They deal, in several in- 
stances, at least, with important problems, political, financial, and 
economic. Several of the Carl Schurz letters and those of Judge 
Doolittle and Senator Vest certainly come under these headings. 
So also does that of the Hon. B. Gratz Brown. 

It is true that the Schurz letters were written before their author 
became a citizen of St. Louis. But they are letters of political and 
historical interest, and in the opinion of the contributor, it is eminently 
fitting that they find a place in the historical collections of Mr. Schurz' s 
adopted state. 

No attempt has been made to connect the letters with certain events 
to which they undoubtedly specifically refer. That would be an inter- 
esting historical exercise. Students of the subject and the time can 
easily verify much that is indicated in the letters, or in some of them at 
all events. 

— Duane Mowry. 

•James Rood Doolittle was born in Hampton, Washington county, N, Y., 
Jan. 3, 1815, and died at Providence, R. I., July, 27. 1897. During the last 
half of the nineteenth century, Mr. Doolittle was a public and national character 
of no ordinary ability or worth. Excepting four years at Geneva (now Hobart) 
College, where he graduated in 1834, and a few years, when he studied and 
practiced law at Rochester, he resided in Wyoming county, N. Y., imtil in 
1851, he removed to Racine, Wis. 

(1) 






2 MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW. 

In 1853 he was made judge of the first judicial circuit of Wisconsin, but 
resigned in 1856 to become United States Senator, having been elected as a 
democrat-republican in the place of that eminent son of Missouri, Henry Dodge. 
He served Wisconsin in the United States Senate from 1857 to 1869. While 
In Congress he was a member and chairman of several important committees and 
was regarded by his colleagues as an exceptionally able man. In 1861 he was 
a member of the peace convention, but opposed all compromise with the South. 
In 1866 he was president of the national union convention at Philadelphia. 
He exerted a strong influence as a unionist, and in the Senate was one of the 
foremost debaters on war and reconstruction measures, supporting the admin- 
istration. Believing that each state should regulate its own internal affairs, 
he opposed and voted against the fifteenth amendment. His position on such 
questions placed him in close relation with Schurz, Brown, Rollins, and other 
Missourians of national prominence. After leaving the Senate in 1869, he 
practiced law in Racine and Chicago, and for years was professor in the Law 
School of Chicago University, a trustee from its foundation, and for one year its 
president. In 1872 he presided over the national democractic convention at 
Baltimore, that nominated Horace Greeley for the presidency. 

In 1856, Mr. Doolittle withdrew from the democratic party because of 
his strong anti-slavery views, and supported the candidate of the new repubUcan 
party, John C. Fremont. His great oratorical ability soon made him a national 
flgvu-e on the political stump. The victory of the new party in 1860, placed 
Senator Doolittle high in the councils of the Nation. It was his good fortune 
to be very much in the confidence of President Lincoln and later he also had 
great faith in the judgment and patriotism of President Johnson. Knowing 
well Lincoln's reconstruction policy, he strongly championed that of his suc- 
cessor. His independence and courage, however, cost him political prestige at 
home. Together with Lincoln he maintained that colonization was the solu- 
tion of the negro problem. 

The high moral courage of Senator Doolittle must have appealed strongly 
to such kindred spirits as Schurz, Brown and Rollins. The following letters, 
all too few, reveal exceptionally close friendships. His return to the democratic 
party gave him no new honors, in fact thegreatesc disappointment of his life was 
the refusal of President Cleveland to give him a foreign mission in Austria or 
Russia. His ambition was open and known to all; his integrity, imquestioned ; 
and his ability, of the highest. These letters, while especially valuable to Mis- 
souri as representative of their distinguished authors, also serve as sidelights on 
the character of one of Wisconsin's great statesman. 

Editor. 

(,Nat'l. Cyclo. of Am. Biog., IV. 144, James T. White & Co., N. Y., 1893. 
Mowry, An Appreciation of James Rood Doolittle, in Proceedings, Wis. Hist; 
Soc, pp. 281-296, 1909.) 



^0 .■t'.i^L.li^ /t't'CraJ^^ 



LETTERS. 



FROM CARL SCHURZ. 

Confidential 



Milwaukee, Aug. 18th, 1859.' 

My dear sir: 

The congressional documents you had the kindness to 
send me, are received, and I thank you for having remembered 
me, — ^A mutual friend of ours has communicated to me 
your views on our next state campaign, as you expressed 
them in a letter addressed to him. I hope you will not con- 
sider this a breach of confidence. These are matters of com- 
mon interest and there ought to be a full understanding 
among those who have to work side by side. 

I will avail myself of this opportunity to state my position 
to you, fully and frankly. My name is before the people in 
connection with the governorship. The nomination and 
election to that office cannot improve my political standing; 
it cannot benefit me financially; I can have no ambition to 
gratify in that way, — and so I would stopped the thing at 
once, if I had looked upon the matter from a mere personal 
point of view, or if it had presented itself to my mind as a 
matter of mere state-interest. But it seemed to me that, 
leaving aside all personal considerations, my nomination and 
election would have a vast influence upon the national cam- 
paign in 1860. Wisconsin occupies a prominent and proud 
position in the phalanx of Republican States. We have 
raised the standard of consistent Republicanism, untarnished 
by Know-Nothingism, presenting a bold front to federal 
usurpation. Other states have committed grave blunders 
like Massachusetts, or faltered like Ohio; we have stood firm. 

«It is to be observed that this letter was written when Mr. Schurz was a 
resident of Wisconsin. He had not then reached the prominence of a national 
figure. But he was in the political game in the fullest sense of the term. And he 
wanted to impress upon Senator Doolittle that the German vote in Wisconsin 
muse be reckoned with. 

One thing that is the subject of remark is the splendid diction of the letter. 
At that time Mr. Schurz had not been a citizen of the United States for more 
than seven years, coming in 1852 from the Fatherland from which he was a 
political refugee in 1849. Duane Mowkt. 



4 MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW. 

Against the first we have protested with words, against the 
latter with acts. In this respect my nomination would, 
in the opinion of a great many true men in this and other 
states, be a bold and manly demonstration. It would nail 
our flag to the mast ; it would make Wisconsin the representa- 
tive of true Republican consistency; it would make our state 
the nucleus of the truly democratic element of the Republican 
party. Thus, I thought, with my name at the head of the 
ticket, we would fight here the first great skirmish of the battle 
of 1860, and the result would have a considerable effect on 
the tendency and spirit of the national convention. My 
election, (such was the opinion) would be worth to our pres- 
idential candidate more than 50,000 votes, and I would go 
before the people of the U. S. in the campaign as an exponent 
of true Republicanism. I would put down the Massachusetts 
amendment by merely showing myself, and our fight would 
once more become an aggresive one. — ^This is the way l- 
looked at this matter, and I must confess, nothing could have 
been more distasteful to me than to see the public papers 
picking up little personal claims, small localcons iderations 
and political quibbles, in order to puff this candidate and dis- 
parage the other. I cannot help taking comprehensive views 
of politics and I would never feel called upon to mix up with 
small local squabbles in order to decide petty personal contests. 
— If the Republicans of Wisconsin judge our next state-elec- 
tion from this point of view, I shall stake my whole political 
existence on the result. If the contest is to be narrowed 
down to the mere question, what man shall occupy the execu- 
tive office and be dubbed governor for the next two years, 
my place is not in the ring. 

If I could have foreseen the petty discussions to which 
the bringing forward of my name has given rise, I would have 
declined four weeks ago. The matter was not put upon the 
ground where I wanted to have it. Meanwhile the thing 
has gone on, and the difficulties we have to confront become 
more perplexing every day. Before going farther let me say 
that in case of my nomination, I have no serious doubts as 
to the result of the election. After a careful survey of the 



LETTERS. O 

ground I find, that I could command at least 8000 German 
votes outside of the Rep. party. That figure is not unlikely 
to run up to 9000 or 10000. Of 4000 I am perfectly sure. 
In so far, I think I would not jeopardize the chances of the 
party for my political "aspirations." — Now let me say a few 
words on the small business of the next campaign. I have none 
but friendly feelings for Gov. Randall, but I must confess that of 
all the candidates mentioned, I consider him the weakest. 
His nomination two years ago left the people perfectly cold; 
hence the small vote and the partial defeat of the ticket. 
His administration was on the whole a good one; but he has 
committed blunders enough to make a considerable number of 
opponents inside of the party. I think his re-nomination 
would leave the people just as cold as it did in '59, and while 
he then barely escaped defeat with no Republicans actively 
working against him, what will his fate be now, since a number 
of influential members of the party have declared that they 
will openly bolt his nomination? Besides this, he cannot get 
more than half of the German Republican vote in consequence 
of the appointments he made and several other things, and if 
I went to work from the day of his nomination to the day of 
election, I could not give him two thirds of the German votes 
he obtained in '59. If we did not stand just before a presiden- 
tial campaign, and if Wisconsin did not occupy her proud 
representative position, I might perhaps say, that a defeat 
would be wholesome exercise for the Rep. party of this state 
— (they have to be whipped out of their wire-pulling pro- 
clivities.) But as things are we cannot afford to jeopardize 
the success of the party for the claims and aspirations of an 
individual.) 

My belief that Gov. Randall cannot be re-elected, is so 
strong, that I have offered some of his friends to withdraw 
my name from the contest provided he would withdraw his, 
thus sacrificing my plans of a brilliant political operation to 
the safety of the party in the state election. This proposition 
seems to have met with little favor. If I could have foreseen 
the perplexities we have run into, I would have discounte- 
nanced the first attempt to bring my name before the people. 



6 MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW. 

If I decline now, Gov, R.'s re-nomination is sure and defeat in 
the election exceedingly probable. I do not want that. If 
my name is presented to the convention and I am beaten 
there, it might seriously injure the chances of the candidate 
nominated, and I do not like that. (The feeling among the 
the Germans is very strong and I shall hardly be able to con- 
trol it.) 

Your suggestion that I should take some subordinate 
nomination cannot consistently be carried out. My expe- 
rience is against it. To be sandwiched in a ticket and to fight 
a defensive battle for others is a thing which I cannot very 

well afford to do. I do not like to make my chances depend 
on other people's merits. If I should ever be a candidate 
again I am determined to run on my own strength and my 
own responsibility. I intend to do some work next year, and 
it would be very unwise to assume the risks of other people 
this fall. Besides this, if my election is to have any effect 
on the presidential campaign, none but the most conspicuous 
position will serve. For these and other reasons equally 
strong, I shall absolutely decline any subordinate nomination. 
But if we want to preserve even one-half of the German vote 
in case of my defeat in the convention, it is absolutely neces- 
sary that a German be on the ticket. Some demonstration 
must be made in that way. This thing is not an easy one to 
manage. It will not only be difficult to find a suitable man, 
but it will be still more difficult to find a suitable place for that 
man, — unless the convention throw Hastings overboard, a pro- 
ceeding which would be neither just nor safe. How these 
and other difficulties are to be overcome I do not see yet. 
They are perplexing now; they may become fatal. The only 
way to adjust these matters will be to have an informal meet- 
ing and a free consultation of the delegates before the conven- 
tion proceeds to its regular business. There a full interchange 
of views may be had and the convention will not act blindly. 
I am very anxious to avoid all of these difficulties and this can 
be done only by coming to an understanding in time. I should be 
very glad to see the Convention composed of the truest and 
most earnest Republicans of the state; your presence there as 



LETTERS. 7 

a delegate, my dear sir, would certainly do much to keep 
things in the right track. Your advice will have great weight 
with every member of the party, and the respect due to your 
person and position might prevent their discussions from 
becoming excited and violent. 

I should have preferred to see these matters settled before 
the primary meetings take place, so as to prevent the packing 
of the Convention, which always will have a bad moral 
effect. But there seems to be no way to do it. 

I tell you all this not in order to induce you to do this or 
that but merely in order to explain to you my motives and 
prevent misapprehensions from springing up between us. 
We may have to work side by side very often and it is better 
that we sould understand each other. It is hardly necessary 
to add, that if the Convention should come to conclusions 
different from the views I have taken, I would, perhaps not 
without some regret, give up a place which promised to produce 
brilliant results, but I shall, without personal feeling, most 
cheerfully accept their decision and faithfully work for the 
success of our principles, however gloomy the prospects may be. 

Yours sincerely, 

C. SCHURZ. 

Hon. J. R. Doolittle, 
Racine. 

FROM CARL SCHURZ. 

Milwaukee, Nov. 7th, 1859.' 

Hon. James R. Doolittle, 

Racine. 
Dear Sir: 

I have just received your favor of Nov. 5th. I return you 
my hearty thanks for your kind assistance in the matter of 
the Republican press. About a month ago I had to take up 
one of the notes and had to borrow the money to do it with. 
That paper is just now coming due and I was running about for 

•The "Hobart" referred to was the Hon. Harrison C. Hobart, a well-known 
and prominent Wisconsin Democrat of that time and a resident of Milwaiikee. 

DUANE MOWBY. 



8 MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW. 

the purpose of raising money. Your check and the other 
certificate of deposit saved me from a great embarassment. 
In a few days I shall go East. Whatever contribution may 
be made for the purpose of sustaining our press, it will be well 
invested capital. Please communicate about this matter with 
the officers of our Republican Club here. But, if possible, 
let something be done for the "Volks Zeitung" in Watertown. 
We are in full fight here, and I may possibly have a 
debate with Hobart to-night. I have just challenged him. 

Yours sincerely, 

C. SCHURZ. 



FROM CARL SCHURZ. 

Boston, Jan. 12th, I860.* 

Hon. J. R. Doolittle, 
My dear friend : 

Yesterday I sent you a copy of the speech I delivered in 
Springfield a few days ago. If the argument contained in 
the first part is followed up, you may place Douglas between 
two fires and oblige him to take either one or the other position 
with all its consequences. This will either entirely destroy 
him at the South or bring about a rupture with his Northern 
friends. I should be glad to have that speech published in 
one of the leading eastern papers. Perhaps the Washington 
"Republic" or the "National Era" would reprint it. 

I shall probably return to Wisconsin in two or three 
weeks. If possible, I shall pay you a short visit at Washing- 
ton, if I do not find it too expensive. 

Tell me what you think of the speech (that is to say 
openly, unreservedly and without restraint) and, please, 
direct your letter care of Fred. Kapp, Esq., New York. It 

•In this letter there is clear evidence of the political shrewdness of Mr. 
Schurz. Undoubtedly, he correctly analyzed the political attitude of Stephen 
A. Douglas. Subsequent events confirmed his viewpoint. Whatever else 
may be said of him, Mr. Schurz was, by this time, coming into national impor- 
tance. He was much wanted to address German audiences throughout the 
country. These, of course, were of a political nature, only. 

DUANE MOWBT. 



LETTERS. y 

will find me there at the commencement of next week, until 
Wednesday or Thursday. What are the prospects in regard to 
the speakership? Do you not think it would be best to change 
the time for holding the National Convention? It seems to 
be the general opinion, that it should be held some time before 
the middle of May, and I think so myself. If this is your 
view I think it would be well to address letters to the Chair- 
man of the National Com. and urge him to address a circular 
to the several members. In that way the change might be 
effected before it is too late. This matter is certainly of great 
importance. 

My best regards to our friends in Washington. 

Yours truly, 

C. SCHURZ. 

P. S. There are some typographical errors in the report 
of my speech. In the 12th line of the 4th column there is 
a ";" wanting between the words "said" and "history;" and 
in the 26th line of the 5th column counting from the bot- 
tom upward "abusive ordinance" ought to read "obscure 
ordinance." That is all I can now think of. 

C. S. 

FROM CARL SCHURZ. 

Philadelphia, Jan. 31st, '60.^ 

Hon. J. R. Doolittle. 
My dear friend : 

I had to leave Washington without bidding you and 
Mrs. Doolittle good-bye. Please offer Mrs. Doolittle my 
highest regards. 

You told me that a translation into German of my speech 
on Douglas was desired and I think I had better make that 
translation myself. I wish to read the proof also, and in 
order to do this, would it not be best to have the printing 
done in Wisconsin? I understand you pay $1. for an 8 page 
pamphlet in German; we might do that for the same price at 

•Of this letter, it can be said that Mr. Schurz was taking cognizance of im- 
portant political event in order that he might contribute to the success of the 
Republican party. The "America for Americans" slogan evidently had little 
interest for him. Duane Mowbt. 



10 MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW. 

home and thereby favor our papers with a Httle job. The 
thing can be done for you just as cheap and a great deal 
better. Please let me know what you think about it and how 
many copies you want, and I will see the job done. 

Can you send me a copy of Biglers bill in relation to the 
prevention of invasions and conspiracies, etc. It is a valuable 
campaign-document. 

I fear that Sherman's defeat (for it was a defeat) will have 
a bad effect on the action of the National Convention. The 
true Republicans will have to stand firmly together or they 
will be overridden by the Americans and old-line Whigs, and 
the whole campaign will be a tame affair. 

I would have left for home before this, but I found Mrs. 
Schurz sick and unable to travel. We shall hardly get started 
before the middle of next week. 

My address here is: Care of Dr. H. Tiedemann, 445 N. 
5th Str., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Yours as ever, 

C. Schurz. 

FROM CARL SCHURZ. 

Philad. Feb. 11th, '60. • 

Hon. J. R. Doolittle. 
My dear friend: 

I have translated my speech and the translation is printed 
in the "Freie Presse," the German Republ. paper of this 
city. The editor will send you a printed copy of the transla- 
tion which may be stereotyped. Please send me a few copies 
of the pamphlet (in English) for distribution among our friends 
in Wisconsin. I intend to leave to-morrow night for home. 
The speech is working well wherever it is read. 

You tell me that Douglas' chances seem to be rising in 
the South. I think you may press him about the inconsis- 
tencies of his doctrine so as to make him own up one way or the 

•This letter shows the innate cleverness of the political acumen of Mr. 
Schurz. It also makes plain that Mr. Schurz understood the political game 
locally as well as nationally. The "Dixon" mentioned was the Hon. Luther S. 
Dixon, for many years a justice of the supreme court of Wisconsin. 

DUANE MOWKT. 



LETTERS. 11 

Other; and besides you can squeeze him strongly about his 
"alien and sedition laws;" you may destroy him completely 
at the North. I think he is at your mercy now, and you 
ought not to spare him. 

All I hear and see here is very encouraging. A judicious 
nomination will secure us Pennsylvania beyond peradventure, 
and I think, even a bold one will not endanger our success 
very much. I had several letters from Wisconsin lately; the 
approaching judicial election gives our friends considerable 
trouble. Dixon will not accept a party nomination and refuses 
to lend himself to factious purposes in any way. But I un- 
derstand he would allow himself to be called out as an in- 
dependent candidate in case A. D. Smith should run. 

Give my best legards to Mrs. Doolittle and remember 
me to our friends generally. 

Yours as ever, 

C. SCHURZ. 

P. S. — I should like to read the proof of the German 
pamphlet. 

C. S. 

FROM B. GRATZ BROWN. 

Oct. 17. 1870.' 

My Dear Senator: 

I have just returned from a very arduous canvass of 
thirty days in the northern part of the state [Missouri] and 
find your very kind and sympathetic letter. This, you will 
understand, of course, is a bitter fight in Missouri, first because 
it is death to the "rings," and second because it has its ulterior 

'It would seem that this letter forecasts the Liberal Republican movement 
which finally culminated in the nomination of Horace Greeley for president and 
B. Gratz Brown for vice-president by the Liberal Republicans and endorsed 
by the Democrats. Governor Brown was known to be the responsible head of 
that movement. And Senator Doolittle was an avowed sympathizer of it. 
It would be interesting to know what was the tenor of Judge Doolittle's letter 
which called forth this reply. But it is also to be regretted that it was rarely Mr. 
Doolittle's practice to keep copies of letters of this character. And none has 
been found by the contributor. 

It is to be borne in mind that Judge Doolittle figured prominently in the 
National Convention which placed Greeley and Brown in nomination as 
presidential candidates. Duank Mowky. 



12 MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW. 

significance and there will be nothing left undone on either 
side to decide the issue. 

I can only say to you in a few hurried words that I will 
win by not less than thirty thousand majority — the President 
[Grant] and his influence to the contrary netwithstanding. 

I thank you and the other friends in other states for 
your good feeling in this matter. Perhaps I am not the right 
man to have taken the lead in such a conflict; but there was 
no other that would do it, and the thing had to be done. So 
you see, despite all my wishes and all my designs, I am involved 
in politics again much to the detriment of my agricultural 
plans. 

With many pleasant reminiscences of our intercourse in 
the Senate, and with feelings of the warmest personal attach- 
ment, I remain, 

Very truly and hastily yours, 

B. Gratz Brown. 
Hon. J. R. Doolittle, 
Chicago. 



FROM JAS. S. ROLLINS. 

Columbia, Missouri, Jan'y 29th, 1866'. 

My Dear Sir: 

The views of youself and Mr. Cowan, of Penn'a, accord 
so perfectly with my own, in regard to the proper policies to 

•Although there is nothing in the letter to indicate it, there can be no 
doubt that it was written to the then Senator James R. Doolittle of Wisconsin. 
It was carefully preserved in his private papers and correspondence. The 
political attitude of Senators Doolittle and Cowan, with reference to the admin- 
istration of President Johnson, were known to be in substantial accord. It is 
this harmony which calls forth the approval of Mr. RoUins. It was also well 
understood that Senators Sumner and Wilson of Massachusetts and Howe of 
Wisconsin, were in direct antagonism to the President and his policies. A 
strong and growing sentiment was at work against the President among those 
who entertained extreme radical Republican views with regard to the questions 
growing out of the Civil War. All this was the subject of public discussion and 
debate at the time this letter was written. Mr. Rollins, evidently, wanted to 
assist in making public opinion in favor of the policy championed by Senator 
Doolittle. He wanted to distribute his speeches as a means of carrying out 
his plan of promoting the cause, which, however, was destined to be met with 
disaster and defeat at a later date. Ddane Mowbt. 



LETTERS. 13 

be pursued, in getting the Government back upon the old 
pathway, that I must ask the favor of you to send me a dozen 
or two copies of your speeches, under your frank — if they have 
been put up in pamphlet form. 

Missouri will stand firmly by the President — in the course 
which he seems to have marked out for himself, — and we rely 
upon such statesmen as yourself and Mr. Cowan — to ward off 
the blows aimed at him by Sumner, Wilson, Howe & Company. 

I am very truly, 

Your friend, 

Jas. S. Rollins. 



FROM T. O. HOWE, In Re JNO. C. TRUES- 

DELL. 

To His Excellency Andrew Johnson, 

President of the United States.^ 

The undersigned Senators and Representatives of the 
Congress of the United States have great pleasure in recom- 
mending Mr. John C. Truesdell, of St. Louis, Mo., a gentle- 
man of ability and integrity for appointment as one of the 
Commissioners under 

"An Act to reimburse the State of Missouri for moneys 
expended for the United States in enrolling, equipping, and 
provisioning militia forces to aid in suppressing the Rebellion." 

T. O. Howe. 

•The signature attached to the foregoing document is in the handwriting of 
Senator Timothy O. Howe, of Wisconsin. Whether other "Senators and Rep- 
resentatives in the Congress" signed similar documents, the contributor has no 
means at hand of knowing. Nor does he know if Mr. Truesdell received the 
appointment. But the pubUcation of the document itself may be a bit of 
interesting information for the friends and admirers of Mr. Truesdell in Missouri. 
And the reproduction of it is offered in that belief. 

Ddane Mowrt. 



14 MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW. 

FROM JNO. C. TRUESDELL. 

Saint Louis, Dec. 1st, 1865 »• 

Hon. J. R. Doolittle, 

Washington, D. C. 
My Dear Sir: 

Mr. Geo. W. Sturgis, of Geneva, in your state, wants to 
be Post M. on the Altantic & Mississippi Co.'sh'ne from here 
to New Orleans. 

He is a very worthy man. Was the agent of the state at 
this place during a part of the war. Stands well here and 
would make a good ofificer and ought to have the appoint- 
ment. 

If you can help him, you will confer a bounty upon a 
worthy man and a favor upon me. 

In 1868 I expect to help nominate and elect you to the 
Presidency. I always had great faith in your conservatism. 
If I had been in the State Senate, as I should have been upon 
a fair count of the votes cast, I should have voted to continue 
you where you are. But I am in Missouri now and in state 
matters in Wisconsin, can neither help nor harm you. I was 
rejoiced when I read your speeches made during the late can- 
vass in Wisconsin. They were sound. 

My enclosed business card will advise you what I am 
doing here. 

Very truly yours, 

Jno. C. Truesdell. 

•"Evidently, Mr. Truesdell was a former resident of Wisconsin and a con- 
stituent of the then Senator Doolittle of that state. 

DUANE MOWRY. 



LETTERS. 15 

TO G. G. VEST. 

Chicago, Aug. 15th, 1893". 

Hon. Mr. Vest, 

Washn, D. C. 
My dear Senator : 

I cannot withhold for a single day, the expression of 
my great satisfaction at your speaking in defense of Bi-Metal- 
ism as reported in the Press this morning. Imperfect as the 
report is, I see the drift and substance of your speech. 

It is the most important question, of all others, since the 
close of the war, and the restoration of home rule to the states 
of the South under the Constitution; and, yet it is a subject 
attended with great difficulties in getting a fair and impartial 
hearing, upon fair and impartial testimony. 

Until within the last thirty years, no witness would be 
allowed to give any testimony in a court of justice, who had 
a direct pecuniary interest in the question; and, even now, 
since by statute he is made competent to testify, the question 
of his interest goes very far to weaken its force. It goes 
directly to the question of his credibility. 

No one who knows the human heart, and how prone in 
man, is "the wish to be father to the thought," can place full 
confidence in the testimony of witnesses who are directly 
interested in the question. 

Unconsciously a human being may be swayed by his 
interests, and, without intentional falsification, he may be led 

"This is one of the very few letters in the Doolittle private papers and 
correspondence in which the author is, beyond question, former Senator Doo- 
little, of Wisconsin. It is a masterly presentation of the money question from 
his own point of view, a point of view which had engaged his thoughtful atten- 
tion for many years. It will be seen by the date that the subject was an exceed- 
ingly live one at that particular time. And Judge Doolittle could not let an 
opportunity slip by to commend Senator Vest for his manly speech and attitude 
upon this most intricate of all pubUc questions of a pxu-ely national character. 

The erasures, interlineations, additions, substitutions, etc., made with 
lead pencil in the type-written copy of the letter submitted, are all in the hand- 
writing of Judge Doolittle himself. The contributor can vouch for that. 

The "Senator Collamer" mentioned by Mr. Doolittle was the Hon. Jacob 
Collamer, a United States Senator from Vermont and a senatorial colleague of 
Senator Doolittle. Duane Mowry. 



16 MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW. 

by them to see only half the truth. As Senator Collamer used 
to say; "The truth half told is always a lie." Whether 
intended or not, there is no subject upon which so many half 
truths are told as upon this very question, what is money, and 
what is its legitimate office? 

The men whose property consists in bonds, mortgages 
and obligations to pay them in dollars, naturally desire dollars 
of the greatest possible value, or purchasing power. If all 
silver dollars can be destroyed as tender in payment, if there 
are to be only gold dollars, their purchasing power is, of neces- 
sity, increased one-third, at least, and perhaps double. They 
naturally look at the question with one eye — an eye single to 
their own interests — through gold spectacles. 

It is so with all men who live on fixed salaries. The 
President of the United States with his fixed salary of $50,- 
000.00, if only gold is to be money, every gold dollar will be 
as good as two in 1873, when silver was demonetized; and 
instead of having a salary of $50,000, at prices under a Bi- 
Metalic standard, it is nearly doubled now in its purchasing 
power under the single gold standard, or equal to $100,000, 
in 1873. It is so with judges, professors in colleges, bank 
presidents and railroad presidents. Their salaries are fixed 
in dollars; and, the dearer the dollars the greater their pur- 
chasing power; and these as a general thing are the very men 
who assume to give testimony all the time for a single gold 
standard. 

On the other hand — the extremists among the silver men, 
see only half the truth. They see clearly the dangers of a 
single gold standard; — dangers which I will not repeat, but 
which I stated at some length, in a speech made at the opera 
house in Racine, Wisconsin, in January last [1893] before the 
recent fall in the price of silver occasioned by England, in 
closing the mints of India to silver coinage. 

I repeat, the silver men see these dangers; and, they see 
or think they see, clearly that the fall in the price of silver is 
due to demonetization alone. (One half at least is due, I 
think, to demonetization real and threatened.) 



LETTERS. 17 

But they look at those dangers with so much intensity, 
and with such apprehension of financial ruin, that they do not 
see that other important truth, which comes in as a potent 
factor in producing the fall in the actual value of silver, and 
which, in my opinion, causes the other half of the fall in price; 
that is — its greater and cheaper production. 

Before 1878, the silver mines of the world never produced 
over 73,000,000 ounces annually. Since that time the annual 
production has nearly doubled. It has gone up to 140,000- 
000 ounces. 

The silver men fail to realize this important fact. They, 
too, look at this question with only one eye — an eye single to 
the silver interest alone — through silver spectacles. 

What now is needed more than anything else at the head 
of affairs is men of cool, clear heads, who can look at this 
question, not with one eye through gold spectacles, nor with 
the other eye through silver spectacles, but with both eyes, 
through spectacles of cold steel; who can see both sides of 
this question, with both eyes, who have knowledge of the 
history and value of gold and silver as money in all ages, and 
among all civilized nations, f romthe beginning of human history ; 
— who have a due regard for their oaths to support the Consti- 
tution of the United States; and, who while they will insist 
on doing full justice to creditors, will not in the name of justice 
and honesty, lend their power and influence to perpetrate the 
most gigantic system of robbery and oppression ever conceived 
among men, viz: The sudden destruction of half the money 
of redemption of the civilized world. 

For myself, I believe at the commercial price to-day, one 
ounce of gold will exchange for 28 ounces of silver. 

I think one-half the fall in silver is to be fairly attributed 
to its cheaper and more plentiful production. 

I think the other half is to be attributed to the action of 
England, Germany and other states and the United States 
towards demonetization. 

Instead of 16 to 1, it is now 28 to 1, (1893) or has fallen 
12/16. Of that fall 6/16 is due to the cheaper production, 
and 6/16 to the unjust and unnatural war upon silver as money 

H— 2 



18 MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW. 

of redemption. It is like a problem to be worked out when 
there is one unknown quantity. We must approximate it the 
best we can. 

I would, therefore, if left to me alone, say : 22 ounces of 
silver is worth one ounce of gold, provided silver is used as a 
money metal. The Constitution recognizes silver as a money 
metal. I would, therefore, in obedience to the Constitution, 
coin all the gold and all the silver which can come to our 
mints at 22 to 1, and take the responsibility. The annual 
production of silver is not over 140,000,000 ounces. Mexico 
would coin her share and probably not over 70,000,000 or one- 
half of the production of the world would come to us. We 
could safely coin 70,000,000 ounces annually at 22 to 1. Every 
silver dollar coming into the Treasury should be re-coined at 
the same ratio, before being paid out. Then there should be 
some law by which no bank paper or any other form of paper 
money should circulate less than $5.00, There is nothing in 
England less than $25, or five pounds. Then gold and silver 
would be where it ought to be, in the hands of the people 
themselves, and not stored up so much in the vaults of the 
Banks and the Government. 

I hope you will excuse me for writing such a long letter. 
I had no idea of it when I began, directly after reading your 
remarks in the Senate. But without stopping to correct what 
I have thus hastily written, I send it to you for your considera- 
tion. 

The times require men of hearts and consciences as well 
as brains, in dealing with this mightiest of problems for the 
good of our country. 

Very truly yours, 

J. R. DOOLITTLE. 



LETTERS. 19 

FROM G. G. VEST. 

Washington, D. C, August 17, 1893." 

My dear sir: — 

Accept my thanks for your very kind letter of August 
15th. 

I appreciate fully the difficulties pointed out by your 
letter, and think that any one, who can dogmatically assert 
that the future will bring forth assured results from any given 
policy, is a very bold man. 

About one proposition I do not think there ought to be 
any controversy, and that is the widespread disaster which 
will come to our country from a single gold standard. I can 
very well understand, as I said in my speech, how an English- 
man would be for the gold standard, but it is incomprehensible 
that an American should take that position. 

The thing which must give every intelligent mind the 
greatest trouble is as to our ability to maintain the two metals 
at a parity without international agreement. I honestly 
believe that it can be done by increasing the ratio, repealing 
the Sherman law, and then, if necessary, issuing bonds by the 
sale of which gold can be put in the treasury, and sustain our 
financial legislation. 

Under ordinary circumstances I should oppose the issuing 
of bonds for any purpose, but if we propose to maintain the 
parity of gold and silver, it is beyond question that we must 
have more gold, I do not see how this can be obtained except 
by the sale of bonds, unless there should be a series of years in 
which the crops of the United States would be abundant and 
those of the outside world very poor. 

"This letter of Senator Vest, of Missouri, is in courteous reply to that of 
Judge Doolittle, which precedes it. It is not often that a copy of Mr. Doo- 
little's letters are to be found in his correspondence. But here is one that 
discusses the money question in his most forceful and luminous way. And 
Mr. Vest, in his somewhat brief answer, recognizes the difficulties of the situa- 
tion. The subject is so recent in the public mind, that the correspondence is, 
perhaps, all that the student or investigator will care to Icnow at this time. 

DUANE MOWKY. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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016 098 158 1 

MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW. 



The outlook here is very dark and there seems to be little 
hope of speedy compromise. 

The gold men are determined to have an unconditional 
repeal of the purchasing clause of the Sherman Act, and the 
friends of silver are equally determined to secure some 
legislation for that metal. 

Your friend, 

G. G. Vest. 
Hon. James R. Doolittle, 

Racine, Wisconsin. 



V 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




20 



016 098 158 1 

MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW. 



The outlook here is very dark and there seems to be little 
hope of speedy compromise. 

The gold men are determined to have an unconditional 
repeal of the purchasing clause of the Sherman Act, and the 
friends of silver are equally determined to secure some 
legislation for that metal. 

Your friend, 

G. G. Vest. 
Hon. James R. Doolittle, 

Racine, Wisconsin. 



V 



